INTERNATIONAL FACT CHECKING DAY AT BHARTI COLLEGE On the afternoon of 3rd of April, Media Manthan organized a Workshop at Bharati College of Delhi University. To celebrate the International fact checking day the organization invited Mr. Hitesh Shankar, a journalist, writer and filmmaker with an experience of over 25 years in the media industry. He has worked with a number of renowned media houses like Dainik Jagran, India Today and Hindustan Times. Mr.Shankar is currently working in the government committee for central policies and the promotion of Indian languages .
The event initiated with the lighting of lamps and singing of Saraswati Vandana, proceeded by the felicitation of the guest speaker. Then Mr.Shankar was inivited to share his words of wisdom with the students. He began with elaborating on the concept of fact checking and its need in the media industry. Examples of how media twisted truth in order to attract viewers was also highlighted by him. The political and social influence on the media, evolution of media and variety of sources of news were among other topics elucidated by him. He openly spoke about the dark side of media industry and described the process of fact checking in detail. He included the implementation of fact checking mechanism, promoting transparency and combating the spread of false information. He concluded with a call of action by the future journalists to prioritize fact checking and truth seeking in the pursuits of an informed and democratic society.
After the speech the students asked their queries from the guest speaker and he answered with sheer transparency and straightforwardness. Mr. Hitesh Shanker provided valuable insights into the importance of fact checking in the digital age and highlighted the need for efforts to combat misinformation and the event as whole was a huge success.
